Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
A recent article in CIO Magazine describes a key aspect of Twitter: etiquette. The article says, “the Twitter community has its own set of unwritten guidelines – or etiquette – that dictates good (or bad) behavior on the service. Some people call it Twittequette.”
For newcomers, learning the right way to engage the Twitter community is an important first step. While it was designed as an open community, the fact remains that many of your colleagues are likely already on Twitter, and you don’t want to risk offending them – or the larger Twitter community – by ignoring etiquette. Here are a few guidelines about “Twittequette” to get you started:
As a general rule, if someone follows you on Twitter you should also follow them, but you can be still be selective. Make sure that you only follow people who you trust and can learn from.
Remember that a tweet is only 140 characters long, and it can easily be misinterpreted if you’re not clear. You may want to pare down sarcasm to avoid being misunderstood.
Tweets are public because they can be picked up by Google or Twitter’s search tool. If you don’t want it to show up on a Google or Twitter search, don’t tweet it.
Make your objectives and identity clear. You might also want to publicly identify what organization you represent.
Make sure your tweets are personal. Remember that your Twitter followers want to hear your personality and views, not the blatant corporate messaging of your employer.
Don’t be selfish. Just as you would want people to respond to a question you ask over Twitter, make sure to respond to others.
Direct messages are a great way to send personal information, but don’t use them for spam. According to the CIO Magazine article, “some marketing and PR professionals have been criticized for sending direct messages that say “thanks for following me” accompanied by a blatant product pitch.”
With these tips in mind, you’re on your way to leveraging Twitter to learn, connect with others and share your story.
Twitter has also spawned new terms that can be confusing to a newcomer. Here are a few commonly used terms, compliments of the Twitter glossary:
Tweet – Not only a message on Twitter but another term for a Twitter user.
@reply– a tweet that is directed to a fellow Twitter user.
ReTweet – to re-post something that someone already posted to their Twitter stream. Usually proceeded with “RT” and “@username” at the beginning of the post to give credit to the person who originally posted.
Tweeter – A user of Twitter (compare: Twitterer).
Tweets – Posts on Twitter by Twitterers.
Want to learn how to leverage social media for yourself or our company? E-mail [email protected].
Last week we had the opportunity to sit down with a local broadcast reporter and secured her perspective on current trends within broadcast media and offered tips for working with broadcast reporters. Below I have outlined some of the information from that discussion.
Trends
The economy is affecting broadcast media. There has been wide coverage about print media feeling the squeeze as subscription and advertising revenues dry up and increasing competition from online sources. Broadcast media are also under pressure to cut costs. With current budget concerns, some broadcast outlets are asking reporters to film their own segments as they cut back on staffing.
Company created B-roll is no longer expected. Broadcast reporters are somewhat skeptical of content provided by companies, and as such, stations are more inclined to generate its own content versus using pre-produced B-roll footage. One notable exception is if the content is something that would not be possible for the outlet to film itself such as covering the launch of a satellite in space.
Broadcast journalists look to their trusted networks for story ideas and to find experts or individuals to flesh out a story. They also use services such as Peter Shankman’s HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and Al’s Morning Meeting as well as Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools to find resources.
Broadcast outlets are increasingly interested in driving traffic to their Web sites. Stations monitor what stories receive the most interest and comments from viewers. This data helps determine the programming for future coverage.
Tips
Remember to be conversational when pitching broadcast media, and to illustrate how the story can come alive for viewers in a visually interesting manner. Some story ideas are compelling in nature but are not a match for broadcast media because they will not translate effectively into a visual medium. Such stories may be better suited for print media.
When coaching a spokesperson, remind them to speak in a conversational manner, avoid using acronyms or jargon and refrain from phrases such as “as I said already” that can make it difficult to use in the final segment.
Set expectations with spokespeople. A segment on the local news is going to be about the over-arching story and will not be a commercial for the company. The reporter will pull together sound bites from various interviews to help tell the broad story and is not interested in simply highlighting the corporate messaging.
From a PR perspective, it’s more important than ever to think like a broadcast journalist and offer as many resources, visuals, etc. to help them easily pull together the story. As trends such as the economy and social media continue to impact both print and broadcast media outlets, it’s critical to learn how this medium operates and evolve your strategies so you can develop effective pitches that spark the interest of reporters and secure coverage on behalf of your company or client.
Thinking about writing a book? This is a terrific way to establish thought leadership in your industry and share your ideas. A book builds credibility for yourself and your company, attracts broad publicity and provides opportunities to engage the media. But while writing a book can have some tremendous benefits, it is no small task and should be approached with careful consideration.
Jennifer Gehrt and Colleen Moffitt, co-founders of Communiqué PR, recently finished their first book, “Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR.” The book offers practical advice to help readers understand the morphing landscape and leverage contemporary PR to achieve maximum benefit.
Throughout the writing process, Jennifer and Colleen gathered invaluable insight from a variety of journalists, other PR professionals, and senior members of management teams. Below are a few points to consider when deciding whether to write a book.
The Writing Process
Consider working with a professional. As first time authors, Jennifer and Colleen worked with Andrea Carlos, a writer with more than 20 years of journalism experience, Mary Catherine Lamb, who helped with copy editing and fact checking, and Kate Basart, a book designer. All of these professionals provided invaluable insights and coaching to help make “Strategic Public Relations” a success.
“We were extremely impressed with Andrea’s writing talent and how smooth she made the experience for us,” explained Jennifer Gehrt. “Writing a book can be overwhelming but Andrea did a phenomenal job of helping to keep the process moving forward.”
Colleen Moffitt concurs, “Andrea’s insights drawn from years of experience were invaluable to us and we wholeheartedly recommend her.”
Secure feedback. Whether from those quoted in your book, other published authors or people in your industry, feedback can help you refine your message and create a book that will be a valuable resource for your audience. Jennifer and Colleen reached out to former colleagues, other PR professionals and friends who had written books to secure feedback and strengthen their book.
Before you Begin
Weigh the time commitment. Writing a book can take 250-500 hours of time for writing, interviews and review of chapters. This requires anywhere from four to 10 hours per week depending on how many weeks you want the process to take.
Evaluate the subject matter. Will the topic resonate with a large audience? Niche subjects have a place in the market, but they must not be too narrowly focused. It is also important to make sure your book is not a blatant advertisement for your company or products. You can evaluate your topic by developing a clear outline that summarizes content.
Know what has already been written. It is important to do some research to know what books are already on the market, how yours will differ and why your book will have wide market appeal.
Be clear on your motivation. Know what your objectives are in sharing your story. Are you trying to inform and educate people? Do you intend to write an entertaining best seller? Or are you leveraging your book to build your credentials in a particular field or industry?
“Writing a book is a commitment that requires dedication and patience, but we can attest, the rewards are huge,” says Colleen Moffitt of the process.
If you’re considering writing your first book, Jennifer and Colleen would be delighted to share their experiences. Please e-mail [email protected] with any questions.
Twitter, a microblogging and social media site, is continuing to gain popularity thanks to its open design and dedicated followers. A recent survey from Compete.com found that Twitter is the third largest social media site in the country when measured by total page views, and although it only has about six million unique visitors, it garners approximately 54 million views per month.
Twitter is changing the traditional media landscape and the way people are documenting and learning about breaking news.
This is evident in the recent news about US Airways flight 1549. Within minutes of flight 1549 landing in New York’s Hudson River, dozens of New Yorkers started sending Twitter messages about the crash. According to the Telegraph, “Twitter users broke the news approximately 15 minutes before the mainstream media. However, it wasn’t just messages that were “telling the story.” Janis Krums, a Twitter user and iPhone owner, used his phone to take a picture of the downed plane and uploaded it to TwitPic. His picture was forwarded across the “Twitterverse” and was picked up by numerous blogs and news Websites.”
Scenarios such as this illustrate the power of social media and the ability to affect millions of people across the world with – literally – a push of a button.
When used properly, social mediums can be a great tool to break news, creatively market a company and reach a broad audience. However, it can also negatively impact companies that are unversed in this landscape, creating a powerful snowball effect that often reaches a broader audience than traditional news media.
An article published in the Financial Times is a great example of how social media can create this snowball effect. Last September, advertisers launched a campaign for the pain reliever Motrin. The advertisement “implied that while baby-carriers might be fashionable, hauling a child around could be painful.”
Mothers, angry with these advertisements, posted anti-Motrin campaigns on Facebook and blogs and also posted videos on YouTube to express their anger with the campaign’s suggestion that their babies were a hassle. They also used Twitter to attack the company and voice their disappointment with the advertisements. Motrin, unprepared to handle such a social media crisis, became unresponsive to the backlash and critics accused the company of being “not only insensitive but also unresponsive.”
Examples like this illustrate the importance of staying up to speed with emerging trends and technologies. As social mediums like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube continue to gain popularity, it will be important for companies to embrace these mediums and engage with their target audiences through these networks.
The best way to get acquainted with these tools is to experience them firsthand. Join the Twitter network or create a Facebook page to see what all the hype is about. As Jennifer and Colleen state in their upcoming book, Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR, “Using these tools yourself will give you a much clearer picture of how they are used and by whom. It may also generate some innovative ideas for how to target these media on behalf of your organization.”
Today the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published an op-ed article by Dr. Thomas Hansen, CEO of Seattle Children’s Hospital, which discusses how the steep rise in children with chronic illnesses over the last 50 years is pushing hospital executives to closely monitor and incorporate disease trajectories into the strategic planning.
The article, located on page a13 of the editorial section, also examines the healthcare impact for children with chronic conditions in Washington state during a recession. Families who have children with chronic conditions rely heavily on employment-based health insurance and public insurance such as Medicaid, which are often the first impacted during an economic downturn.
Dr. Thomas Hansen provides readers with supporting patient data points from Children’s as well as the Washington State Department of Health to demonstrate how healthcare is evolving for children with chronic conditions. From a PR perspective, this is an excellent example of how an organization can leverage trends and analytical data to share a perspective on important local issues.
Op-ed articles appear in the editorial/opinion section of daily newspapers and are a great way to help establish thought leadership and build credibility for an organization and its executive team. At the same time, these articles allow organizations such as Children’s to voice an opinion.
Dr. Hansen concludes the article by saying, “What keeps me up at night is that upheavals in our economy might overrun our ability to properly care for our children. Then I think about everyday challenges our children with chronic conditions have. I see them conquering fear, overcoming limitations and fighting for a better life. No matter what the greater economy is doing, we are obligated to fight for better health for our children. And I know we will.”
We applaud Children’s work to raise awareness of this important topic. By sharing their perspective in local newspapers like the Seattle P.I., the hospital is helping to secure healthcare resources for children with special needs, now and in the future.
To read the full Seattle Post-Intelligencer article, click here.
Over the past few months, Communiqué has had the opportunity to work with Big Canvas Inc. to secure coverage of its iPhone applications. Big Canvas is a creative developer of applications for the Apple iPhone. Beginning with its flagship application PhotoShare, Big Canvas applications have been growing in popularity and generating buzz because they allow people to engage in “visual conversations,” by sharing snapshots of their lives in real time.
There has been substantial media interest in its applications, and we wanted to share some of the great coverage Big Canvas has received thus far:
Articles
App Beacon, Big Canvas PhotoShare
Apptism, Big Canvas PhotoShare
Business Week, Windows Mobile, What Microsoft Needs to Fix
Cult of Mac, Big Canvas Photo Apps Could Make MMS on iPhone Irrelevant
CNET, iPhone Apps of the Week
Coolest Gadgets
iPhone Me, Windows 95 Lead Architect is a Mac Convert, Launches First iPhone App
iPhonexe.com, Big Canvas PhotoShare
iusethis.com, Big Canvas PhotoShare
MacBlogz, Holiday Frames, an iPhone App Comes Just in Time for the Holidays
Moconews.net, Mobile Veteran Changes Focus From Reaching The Mass Market To Single Focus On The iPhone
PCWorld, iPhone, Economy Spur Better Phones, Apps
PDAStreet, Software Drives the iPhone 3G
The iPhone Blog, Quick App: Big Canvas PhotoShare Social Network Pics for the iPhone
Top Tech News, HP Makes App Store Debut with iPrint Photo
Wall Street Journal, iPhone Calls on Software Developers
ZDNet, iPhone & Photos: Business opportunities through Apps
Forbes, Cloud Computing, Supercomputers for Hire
Press Releases
July 11, 2008, New iPhone Application from Big Canvas Allows Users to Store and Manage Pictures Online
Oct. 9, 2008, Life Loggers Share 100,000 Photos Monthly Using Big Canvas’ PhotoShare
Oct. 15, 2008, Second Application From Big Canvas Available Through Apple’s App Store
Nov. 26, 2008, With OilCanvas, Paint Like VanGogh, Monet or O’Keefe With Your iPhone
Dec. 16, 2008, iPhone Users Can Now Customize and Share Photos with New HolidayFrames Application from Big Canvas